Multiple pushbutton switch



Y Aug. 27, 1968 JINSAKU NAGASHIMA ET AL 3,399,282

MULT I PLE PUSHBUTTON SW1 TCH Filed Nov. 15, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet l Alg- 27, 1968 JlNsAKU NAGASHIMA ET AL 3,399,282

MULTIPLE PUSHBUTTON SWITCH -f 1 l will MULTIPLE PUSHBUTTO ..S.W TCH;.

` `an fokyga 'claims prntyfpplicnonJapan, Nov. 1s" 19 AA- further object of thenpresent-'inventionislto lprovide aswitch i having an` elastimovablescontact deformedfin shapeof `W -which would-:be .insertedelastically intof'a glQQVe, offa slide'rodina switchunitsft. s v' These andv,. other.lobjectseopthe. presen rnventlornland V, the various features and details of the operation and construction thereof are,-.hereinafter.rnor,e fully set forth and described with refere lto thea companying drawings, in which: TV1; 'l i f' u i,FIGUlC'l-Epl is a front Yy pnshbiiittonswitch s .1,... I T L n; LP A'LFIGURE'Q is a 'planfv w "illustrat, theJ 13`,IG.1;'A

f airame, of arzninltxiple E ccorda`y le hlthe presentn- FIGURE 3 is a sectional'viewof the'frarne talrn along line III-III of FIG. 1; s y .A

FIG. 4 is an enlargedsect'inal plan"vieWWC-)f part of the Switch in acordanawth.the;maantnrenticnrzftalsen. along line IV-IV -of FIG. 5;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the switch taken along line V-V of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a side view of a sliding rod for the switch of the invention;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the sliding rod with a pushbutton;

FIG. 8 is an enlarged plan view of extended plate for movable contact which is to be attached in the groove of the sliding rod;

FIG. 9 is a perspective front view of the movable contact being formed from the extended plate;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged plan view of the switch; and

FIG. 11 is a sectional side view of another embodiment of the switch unit.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 to 3, a frame F is made of synthetic resin and molded in one body, and comprises a main frame 1 and plurality o-f branches 6. The main frame formed is L-shape in section as shown in FIG. 3, comprises an upright wall 2 and a horizontal wall 5. On the upper portion of the upright wall 2, notches 3 are formed at equally-spaced intervals, and on the upper side United States Patent@ "H f side an'fci a 't 3,399,282 Ftes@ are??? 1,99*?

trapez'oid having elongated projecting parts 13 and '14 i 1"Said contact plates 12 are mounted reversely in' side by side relation in two parallel rows between the insulating 'plates 15` and 16 so that every slit S produced between the contacts 12 is inclined oppositely to the insulating plates 15`an`d 16. The'upper insulating plates 15, as shown broken'lins in FIG. 4, have three holes registering with, and to be engaged over the projections 4 and 7, and a 'hole registering with, and to'be fixed by a screw 19 to, the threaded'hole 8.

'ff 'As shown in FIG. 6, a sliding rod 20 having a width to be slidably inserted between the rows of the stationary contacts`-12" in theslotand ,projecting through the notch 3A` as' shown in FIG. 4 has a series of many longitudinal grooves "21 spaced inwardly along both sides-of the upper portion, andthe middle part of the outer wall of'each groove is cut off to leave side end walls 24a and 24b`adjacent both ends of the grooves 21. Two depressions 22 are' formed at the ends and a small depression23 is formed in the middle after each groove 21.

' A' metal contactfplate 24 having legs 25, 26 and 27 shown in FIG. 8 is bent in the form of character W, the

height o'f` which is a little higher than the width of the v'groove as shown at A in FIG. l0 and the tops of` the W-shaped contacts24 thus formed are insertedas at B into the grooves by bending the ends elastically to engage behind the side end walls, and legs 25, 26 and 27 are inserted in the depressions 23, 22 and 22 respectively, and thus the metal contacts 24 are supported elastically in the grooves 21.

On the neck of the sliding r-od 20, a pair of V-shaped cuts 28, 29 are provided in one side, and on the end 30 of the rod, there is provided ears 32 to fix a pushbutton 31 on its end.' A projection 33 is on the bottom side of the rod 20 to keep the slide rod 20 from running away from the stationary insulating plate 16.

The switch unit is so made that the sliding rod 20 may be inserted slidably between the rows of the lixed con tacts 12, and the contacts 24 bent as B in the groove is then deformed elastically, as permitted by the groove 21 as C, between the rows of the contacts 12 (FIG. l0), and both ends of the W-shaped contacts 'become free from the side walls 24a and 24h and the W-shaped contact is supported by the top corner part 25a and the two bottom corner parts 26a and 27a as shown in FIG. 10.

A metallic slide =bar 35 (see FIGS. 2 and 4) having projections 36 equally spaced therealong is provided in the groove a between the upright wall 2-and the.-branches-,6,A

so as to be pushed in one direction by a spring 38 mounted in the recess 37 on the branch 6a. To this end, as shown in V FIG.3, the. switch unitsare inserted between'branche-s 6 and every lower insulating plate 1`6 is supported on ribs 1-0 and every upper insulating plate 15 is supported on the .upright wall 2 and branches 6 by means of 4the holes 17, engaging yover the projections 4 and'7 and a screw ,1,9 'engaging in the threaded hole 8, anda coil spring 39 is inserted between every button 31 and main frame 1.,. Whena pushbutton 31 is pressed against the coil .spring 39, the slide `rod 20 slides to change the connection ofthe contactslZ and 24; 'When displaced inwardlypast the 'projection 36, the rod 20 keeps in its position Iby means of vthe engagement of the cut 28 and the projection 36.

When another sliding rod is pushed,v the metal bar. 35 lis. shifted against the force of the spring 38 andthe rod previously pushed is released to. come back to itsoriginal position (shown in' FIG. 4) by the spring 39 and=the newly pushed sliding bar is caught in itsinner position and thus, the" connection is changed. Thus, inraccordance Vwith the present invention, the switch/is of simple construction, small -size and lightweight, and every part may be arranged to be built up by pressing, and switchunits are fixed to the frame F by one screw 19 and needs no soldering or welding and capable of easy assembling. 7 FIG. 11 shows another embodiment of the lixed contact shown in FIG, 5. A contact plate 41 has a contact portion 42 of a parallelogram in its center portion and from the rim of the contact portion 42, stems 43 and 44 are projected perpendicularly in the opposite directions to make shoulders 45, 46 on both sides of the rim. The stems 43 and 44 have wedge-shaped portions 47 and 48 from which end portions 49 and 50 of narrow width` are elongated. vUpper and lower insulating plates and 16, as explained above, have a series of equally spaced holes 51 and 52, and the end portions 49 and 50 are inserted into and pasted and fixed rigidly to the upper and lower insulating plates 15 and 16. The contacts 42 are supported by their shoulders 45 and 46.

Therefore, the` slits S between the contacts 42 on the stationary insulating plates 15 and 16 are of the constant width and the direction of the slits S are parallel to each other and inclined to the insulating plates 15 and 16. When the slide rod as explained above, is inserted between the rows of fixed contacts 42, contact lines 53 of the contact 24 as shown in FIG. 11 becomes perpendicular to the insulating plates 15 and 16.

When the sliding rod 20 is pushed to travel, the contact portions of the movable contacts 24 to the fixed contacts 42 may be slid over the inclined slits S and transmitted smoothly 4to the next contacts 42 without click motion or unblanced contact for electric balance.

While-particularembodiments of the present linvention have Ibeen illustrated and described herein, it is not intendedto limit the invention to such a disclosure, and changes and modifications may be incorporated and embodied `.therein vwithin the 'scope of the following claims.

What i`s claimed'isz' i 1. Afrnultiple pushbutton switch comprising a one-'piece frame of syntheticA lresin having` a `main frame: and branches, said mainframe being formed L-shaped in 'section.A by, an upright wall and a horizontal wally-.said branchesbeingdisposed in spa'ced relation Ialong the rear side of the horizontal wall to forma transverse ,groove between the upright wall and branches, and longitudinal slots between adjacent branches;

' switch units mounted in said slots and comprised of stationary-partswith contact plates-having inclined slits between them'; and 4 slide rod having longitudinal grooves with slide contacts of W-shape, each contact having itsltop corner part and ends eslastically inserted in the longitudinal fk: groove Aof they slide rod so that the bottom corner parts f project against said contact plates, said W shaped contact being supported by the top and bottom corner parts between the slide rod and stationary contact plates. 2. A slide rod with a -slide contact for a switch comprising a rod with a longitudinal'groove spaced inwardly alongv the side thereof,` and having inner and outerside walls and a base wall, the outer side wall being cut-out to leave side end walls adjacent both ends of ythe grooves, depressions being provided in the base wall at each end and a small depres-sion being provided in the 'base wall in the middle; a metal` contact vbent in W-shape having two ends and a corner part on thetop, and two corner parts on the bottom side of the contact, and three legs projecting vfrom the top side, said contact being inserted into the groove yby bending its ends elastically so that the legs .rest in both end depressions and the middle depression respectively to be supported elastically in the groove.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS LEWIS H. MYERS, Prim'ary Examiner.

J. R'. SCOTT, Assistant Examiner, 

